


Sunset

by LaMira1995 (MissTwistedMind)



Category: inFAMOUS: Second Son
Genre: Depression, Family Loss, Fluff, Good Karma Delsin Rowe, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-12
Updated: 2014-10-12
Packaged: 2018-02-20 21:20:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,497
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2443538
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MissTwistedMind/pseuds/LaMira1995
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>*Spoiler - Please don't read if you haven't finished the game*</p>
<p>“Where you used to be, there is a hole in the world, which I find myself constantly walking around in the daytime, and falling in at night. I miss you like hell.”<br/>Edna St. Vincent Millay</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sunset

**Author's Note:**

> A short little something that came to my mind while I was wiping the floor :) And I tell you once again, this story has a huge spoiler for the end of the good playthrough, so don't read it if you haven't played it yet and you don't want to know what happens.
> 
> Everyone else, thank you for reading! I hope you like it!

He tried his best. He smiled in front of his people, made jokes, ate regular meals (because Betty demanded it of him), and pretended that nothing had changed. But everywhere he looked, he saw him.

Grief and guilt caused him sleepless nights, and sometimes he woke up in complete darkness, shaking and in cold sweat. Other times, he couldn’t stand the others. He would disappear without a word, no one knowing where he went. Betty let someone call him, but he never responded. Deep in the night, when nearly everyone was fast asleep, he would finally come home and collapse onto the bed.

With the D.U.P gone from Seattle completely, there was not much more for him to do. It allowed more time to mourn. It became a ritual. Betty wouldn’t even ask where he went when he left in the evening, but every time he came home in the night, he found a warm meal sitting on the table.

Eugene and Fetch tried to text him, but they got no answer either. He would talk to them one day, when he was ready. For sure...

Like every evening he climbed the cliffs, much higher than anyone else could, so no one would bother him. Then he sat down on the edge and stared out at the sea, which was embedded in the yellow-orange glow of the setting sun. He watched the waves, the movement in the water, and waited. He still sat there after the sun was long gone and only returned home when he was completely chilled to the bones.

He tried not to be a burden on the others, but he saw the looks they gave him. Their smiles were fake as well. So he climbed the cliffs earlier, returned later. It became his ritual.

He knew Betty was worried. He thought about leaving, starting anew. But it felt like he would leave _him_ , too, so he stayed.

He spent his evenings at his private, little and secret place. And if it had been up to him, it would have stayed this way. But someone else made this decision for him.

He heard footsteps behind him, and up here it was such a foreign sound that he nearly fell of the cliffs with shock. “Nice place you have up here,” she said and whistled, “but a pain in the ass to find.”

“I don’t wanna talk, Fetch,” he murmured as she sat down beside him, her legs dangling of the edge. He wondered how she got here.

“And I don’t want to, either,” she answered.

Delsin sighed and looked over to her. She had barely changed since they had last seen each other. “Then why are you here?”

Fetch shrugged. “I was just looking for a quiet place to read my newspaper.” She waved the paper in front of his face.

“You came all the way from Seattle to read the newspaper?” he asked and furrowed his brow. What a likely story.

“Looks that way, doesn’t it?” And with that she opened the paper and started reading. Delsin stared at her a while longer.

“You will have a hard time reading it with this light.” But she didn’t seem to mind. Eventually he shook his head and returned to his former staring into the distance. When nearly all light had been gone, she used her hand as a neon light bulb to keep up the charade. They sat there in complete silence, until she stretched and folded the paper in half.

“It gets really cold up here,” she said, and he watched her stand up slowly. “Well, I guess I’ll be seeing you.” She turned to leave and Delsin raised his brow. “What? No lecture?”

She looked over her shoulder back to him and shrugged. “I told you, I just wanted to read my newspaper.”

* * *

 

It became their new ritual. Every evening she would join him, every time with a newspaper in her hand and never even mentioning _him_. They would stay silent nearly the whole time, except for her occasional comments about what was happening in the world, or her casual questions about his life. “Do you ever take that hat off?”

“Not if I don’t have to,” he answered with a smile, which he quickly dismissed again. She smiled too, but gave her attention back to the newspaper only a second later. This was okay, though. Just knowing that he had someone with him was helping. She didn’t force him to talk. And he was absolutely grateful for that.

He came to the conclusion that he needed that ritual. He couldn’t even imagine sitting on top of the cliffs completely alone anymore. It went on like this for weeks, and one day Delsin brought his own newspaper with him and started reading as well. “Beautiful, isn’t it?” he heard her whisper beside him and realized that she hadn’t even opened her paper yet. She was looking at the sun, which disappeared slowly behind the sea.

“Yeah,” he breathed and Fetch sighed. They watched for a while, but eventually Delsin averted his eyes and looked to her. He didn’t know if he was ready yet, but at least he could try. “You didn’t come here to read the newspaper?” he asked, but it wasn’t a real question.

“No,” she answered truthfully and looked at him as well. There was a pause before she spoke again. “I know what you’re going through, Delsin. And I’m awfully sorry.” He clenched his fist and stared at the sea again. It shouldn’t be this hard, but it was. “I know it’s incredibly hard to keep going. You’ll never stop missing him. But one day… you’ll learn to live with it.” She touched his arm carefully as if she was afraid he might lash out. “You must not bottle it up. It will destroy you from the inside. Believe me… I know what I’m talking about.” Delsin swallowed nervously. He didn’t wanna cry in front of her.

“I’m not ready to talk about… _him_... yet,” he said, and his voice sounded strange to his own ears. He saw her nod from the corner of his eyes.

“That’s… okay. But when you’re ready, there are always people who care about you and who want to help you. The Akomish, and Betty, and… me.” I looked up at her, but she averted her eyes quickly. “So… yeah… when you’re ready…,” she stood up, “Don’t think you have to go alone through this, Delsin.”

This evening she left even before the sun had set.

* * *

 

He apologized to Betty, and as predicted she welcomed him with open arms. She admitted that she had asked for Fetch’s help, he promised he would try his best from now on. He said he would never disappoint her again, and Betty smiled and told him that he never did.

Nevertheless he returned to the cliffs that evening, sitting on the edge and waiting for Fetch. But she didn’t come. He got his phone and wrote her. ‘No news today?’ After deleting and rewriting the message several times, he sent it, but no answer came. Maybe he deserved it, he thought. After all he didn’t answer even one of her texts or calls. But then he heard footsteps, and he felt relief wash all over him.

“Man, it’s really hard to get up here without spilling these.” She stopped beside him and handed him two steaming cups. “Don’t worry, it’s just hot chocolate. I heard little kids like you go crazy when they get caffeine. “ Then she took the quilt she had carried under her arm and spread it out over them. “Betty gave me this. So we wouldn’t freeze to death.” Delsin handed her a cup once she was seated. She sighed. “And no, no news today. It was so boring to read those. I’m glad I don’t have to do this anymore... What?” she asked as he kept smiling at her without saying a word.

“Nothing,” he answered completely innocent and she shook her head, but smiled as well. “I’m just glad you came.”

“Yeah, I thought about staying down there, because it gets really freaking cold up here. But I couldn’t leave you all alone by yourself.” Fetch shrugged, and he knew that this wasn’t anywhere near the truth.

“You know… I could keep you warm in another way.” There was a second of complete silence, before both of them burst into laughter. It felt so strange and yet so good to be like this, and Delsin thought he would almost die laughing. “I’m sorry”, he said, and both of them had to wipe the tears from their eyes, “It sounded far better in my head than it did in reality.”

“As always, then,” she snickered and shook her head. Once they calmed down, Fetch stretched again and looked over to him. His face turned serious, and then she leaned forward and placed a quick kiss on his cheek.

“Welcome back, D.”


End file.
